Cotton ginning apparatus and method

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for ginning harvested seed cotton comprising the steps of: introducing harvested seed cotton including lint and seed on to the upper surface of a lower rotating plate (3); rotating said plate to thereby carry said harvested seed cotton towards the leading edge (29) of a knife positioned at a defined distance above said lower rotating plate such that the cotton seed is drawn/combed under the knife edge (27); extracting line separated from said harvested seed cotton from a rearward facing edge of said knife; and collecting said seed from the leading edge of the knife.

This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for ginning cotton.Cotton ginning is the process of separating the cotton lint from theseed after harvesting of the cotton. Generally the ginning is carriedout locally to the cotton fields in central ginneries.

Two principal methods of ginning cotton exist being a roller method anda saw method. In the former case the rolled ginned cotton has ahorizontal cut which does not damage the staple giving a better product;in the latter case the material is cut vertically which tears anddamages the staple but the process is faster. Apparatus presently usedvaries between small inefficient units using old technology requiringmuch maintenance and high power input, and high cost comprehensivemachinery requiring a volume input to be effective.

In known roller ginning machines, see for example U.S. Pat. No.4,094,043, a conveyor drops material into hoppers located on top of thegin and feeds material into the gin. The output of each gin istransported; the lint being baled and the seed crushed for oil. Theprocess operates by bringing the cotton into contact with a leatherroller to which the fibres adhere and thereafter dragging the cottonpast a fixed knife pressed against the roller. A reciprocating knifeabove the fixed knife separates the lint (fibre) from the seed, thelatter dropping through a grid and the lint being stripped away from theleather roller by a rotating bladed stripper.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a ginning machine forcotton, although use for other products is not excluded, which producesthe quality attributed to roller ginning processes but which is ofsimpler construction and requires less expertise and maintenance inoperation. An advantage of the machine of this invention is that higheroutput may be achieved both in terms of throughput in relation to sizeand relative to power consumption.

According to this invention, and in one aspect, there is provided acotton ginning apparatus comprising an upper fixed plate and a lowerrotating plate in substantially horizontal parallel superimposedrelationship and defining a gap therebetween, the upper (fixed) platehaving means to introduce harvested seed cotton including lint and seedfed to the upper surface thereof to the gap between the plates, theupper plate having a number of zones each being provided with a cuttingedge forming a knife on the lower surface thereof, the arrangement beingsuch that when cotton is introduced into said gap during relativerotation of the plates and moved past the said cutting edge, lint isprogressively severed from the seed, the severed lint (staple) beingextracted and the seed being collectable in a separate receptacle.

In a first embodiment the seeds are retained in grooves on the uppersurface of the lower plate with slots through the plate.

In a second embodiment the seeds are transported or carried on the lowerrotating plate towards the blade affixed to the upper plate and the lintpart of the cotton seed is drawn/combed under the affixed blade by aleather/cotton composite pad.

The present invention also provides a method of ginning harvested seedcotton comprising the steps of:

a) introducing harvested seed cotton including lint and seed on to theupper surface of a lower rotating plate;

b) rotating said plate to thereby carry said harvested seed cottontowards the leading edge of a knife positioned at a defined distanceabove said lower rotating plate such that the cotton seed isdrawn/combed under the knife edge;

c) extracting lint separated from said harvested seed cotton from arearward facing edge of said knife; and

d) collecting said seed from the leading edge of the knife.

In order to explain this invention more fully and in greater detail anembodiment is described hereinafter with particular reference to thedrawings showing schematically an apparatus by way of example. In thedrawings.

FIG. 1 shows in side elevation and schematically a construction of afirst embodiment of a ginning machine according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 shows in plan view the feeder plate;

FIG. 3 shows in plan view the rotating plate of one embodiment;

FIG. 4 shows in plan view the seed collection plate;

FIG. 5 shows in plan view the motor support plate;

FIG. 6 shows in perspective one knife block;

FIG. 7 shows a fragmentary sectional view of the knife block, feederplate and rotating plate on A--A as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIG. 8 shows a detail of the knife block edge;

FIG. 9 shows a modified construction of a rotating plate;

FIG. 10 shows a second embodiment of a ginning apparatus according tothe present invention;

FIG. 11 shows an alternative design of rotor;

FIG. 12 shows an alternative design of upper plate;

FIG. 13 shows in side elevation the blade arrangement of the apparatusof FIG. 10;

FIG. 14 shows in plan view the lower blade surface; and

FIG. 15 shows in side elevation an alternative lower blade structure.

Referring firstly to FIG. 1 of the drawings a ginning machine accordingto this invention is shown in side view and schematically. The machinehas an electric drive motor 1 mounted on a fixed spyder plate 5 andconnected to a drive shaft 10 through a flexible coupling 11. Above theplate 5, which is fixed to frame 6, is positioned a fixed seedcollection and discharge plate 4 with aperture 41 to allow the ginnedseed to pass through to be collected. Plate 4 has a central aperture 42to allow the motor drive shaft to pass therethrough.

Located above fixed plate 4 is a rotating plate 3 coupled with shaft 10,this plate is located a defined spaced distance below a fixed feed plate2. Feed plate 2 has a central aperture 25 supporting a bearing assembly13 for the shaft 10.

The shaft 10 extends upwardly and may be used to drive the knownscarifiers or masticators which are located above the unit.

A feed duct assembly 21 for harvested cotton is located above the plate2 and is generally of a known construction serving to introduce thecotton to be ginned. The duct 21 divides into four branches, two onlybeing shown, 22 and 23. The feed plate 2 has four knife blocks 24 spacedalong each side with a central aperture for free passage of shaft 10(FIG. 2). Each knife block is fed by a branch (22,23) of the duct 21.

The rotating plate 3 positioned below feed plate 2 has four zones 31each comprising a series of parallel grooves 32 extending outwardly anda central coupling 33 connected with the drive shaft 10. The grooves 32lead down to slots 34 passing through the plate (FIG. 7). In FIG. 7 asection is shown on A--A of FIGS. 2 and 3 when the plates 2 and 3 areassembled that is looking towards the centre axis of each plate.

As shown more clearly in FIG. 7, the fixed feeder plate 2 has fourapertures each of which receives a knife block 24. Each block issupported by side flanges 26 which rest on the plate surface and whichmay be shimmed to provide adjustment. The block 24 has slots or isotherwise machined to provide knife-like cutting edges 27. Separateknife blades can be provided mounted on the block. The cotton seed to beginned S enters the knife block 24 along a side entrance aperture I andis drawn by the rotating plate 3 into the holding channel formed bytaper 29 at the leading edge of the knife block 24 (FIG. 8). When theleading edge of the first groove 32' in plate 3 arrives the seed S isdrawn in and trapped in the groove and dragged beneath the knife block24, the seed is dragged upward against the edges 27 through contact withthe rotating plates. The cotton lint is thus progressively severed andremoved by successive actions of the edges 27. Each succeeding edgeturns the seed to present a fresh area of lint which is cut. Strippedseed passes through the slots 34 and a scrapper blade 28 at the outletend O of the knife block 24 removes any lint on the seed and deflectsthe lint upwards through an aperture at this end of the block to bedrawn away by suction. The blade 28 ensures that the seed is cleanlyseparated and forced in a downward direction and not dragged out of thegrooves to the outlet. The separated seed drops through slots 34 andcollects on plate 4 and a sweeper blade or paddle (not shown) on theunderside of the plate 3 moves the seed to the aperture 41 in plate 4for discharge.

The cotton lint separated from the seed in this process and leavingthrough the outlet O is removed using a known vacuum suction systemoperating through ducts 35 and feeding a baler (not shown).

In contrast to the known methods of separating the cotton lint from theseed this invention adopts a principle of guiding the cotton between twohorizontal and relatively rotating plates, one having a series ofcutting edges, and the other having grooves. The lint is severedprogressively from the seed which is separated. This surprisingly simplemethod and construction avoiding leather rollers and other criticalparts, has given excellent results and is simple to set-up and adjust aswell as requiring relatively little power. As may be appreciated anumber of units may be used in parallel according to the volume ofcotton to be processed.

In a practical construction the plates are about 1 m in diameter and 19mm thick with the knife blocks 24 and grooved areas 32 being some 330 mmlong and 280 mm wide. The knife block preferably has five cutting edgesor separate blades but this number is variable. The gap between theplates 2 and 3 is set accurately by trials which can be easily carriedout and fine adjustment can be provided by shims on the knife bladesunder flanges.

In FIG. 9 a modification is disclosed for the rotating plate 3 and inthis construction possible distortions in the plate are avoided byproviding a cast iron plate 3 with webs 90 on the underside and fourcut-out apertures 91 in the plate which support grooved and slottedsteel plate assemblies 92. The slots 32,34 may be provided betweenindividual bars on these plates 92 which can be adjusted in spacing toprovide optimum performance. In this construction the grooved zones 32,24 on plate 3 are formed by separate sub-assemblies 92 such as sheetmetal units.

In a modification the edge of the knife block 24 adjacent the cuttingedge 27 may be chamfered.

In an example harvested cotton which has had all field debris (stonesand twigs mainly) screened out and has been broken up in a scarifier ormasticator, is fed through the end of one of the four knife blocks 24 ofplate 2. The material entering the gap between plates 2 and 3 throughthe end of one of the four knife blocks 24 is fed into a groove in therotating plate and carried under the knife block where the knife edgesremove the lint from the seed. The lint then passes over the scraperknife at the end of the knife block which guides it out of the exit atthe other end of the knife block from where it first entered. At thesame time as the lint passes over the scraper knife the seed with anyremaining lint passes under the scraper knife and the scraper kniferemoves any final bits of lint remaining. The seed is now free to dropthrough the groove and any remaining lint is carried onto the next knifeblock and exits with the lint entering at that knife block whichdisplaces the seed.

The lint which has exited from the side of the knife block in plate 2 istaken away by a vacuum process which conveys the material to the baler.

The seed which is left behind falls into the groove 32 in the rotor 3and passes through to plate 4. A paddle or flange on the underside ofplate 3 sweeps the seed towards an exit hole where it falls through to acollection area for bagging.

A second embodiment is shown in FIG. 10 in which similar parts to FIG. 1are given the same reference numerals. The flexible bearing of FIG. 1 isreplaced by a twin bearing structure 102, 104 positioned each side of anintermediate plate 106. This arrangement relieves stress on the motor 1.The motor 1 may be 6 to 10 horse power. The 6 HP motor is preferred fora rotor size of 1 meter (40 inches) and the 10 HP for a rotor diameterof 1.5 meters (60 inches).

The upper blade 2 has revised blade holder structures 108, 110. Theremay preferably be 2, 4 or 8 such structures.

A feed hopper 112 is mounted above blade 2 and is provided in apreferred embodiment with a rotating strimmer 114. Feed chutes 116, 118feed the seed cotton down to the blade structure.

The seeds 120, once stripped of their cotton lint are collected in bags122, 124 and are ejected from the rotating plates 2, 3 by a compressedair jet as explained with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. The compressedair and a vacuum for the apparatus may be supplied by known suitablemeans.

With reference now to FIG. 11, a new design of rotor 3 isdiagrammatically shown. The rotor 3 preferably comprises a cast ironplate which has mounted on it a plurality of rotating blades 126-140.Between each blade 126, 128 etc is a sheet of leather or cottoncomposite or other suitable materials which preferably have no adverseeffect to further processing such as dyeing 142-156 which acts to gripthe cotton and as the blade 3 rotates to drive it on to the fixed blade,as shown in FIG. 12. The leather sheets will be substantially triangularin shape with an inner width (IW) of 3-4 inches and an outer width (OW)of 8-10 inches. This is desirable because the cotton is moved by thefriction on the leather or cotton composite and the inner rotor moves ata correspondingly lower speed thereby providing more friction grip whichrequires less leather. The upper plate surface will be substantiallyflat with the leather and blades forming the flat surface. In FIG. 14 analternative design of leather mounting is shown but in FIG. 11 theleather is glued or otherwise affixed rigidly to the upper plate in thegaps formed by the blades 126-140.

In a further embodiment the blades 126-138 may be set at a differentangle as shown by the dotted lines 138'. This arrangement is such thatthe rotating blades 126-138 meet with the fixed blades at an anglerather than square on and produce more or a scissor action.

The upper fixed plate structure 2 shown in FIG. 12 comprises in apreferred embodiment a square plate 20 with rectangular apertures 202,204 . . . 216 cut through the upper plate. The plate may be, forexample, 1/2 inch steel plate and may be provided with fixing holes 220to 226 for fixing the plate to the frame 6 (FIG. 1). Adjacent to eachaperture 202 to 216 is a blade arrangement 150 as shown in greaterdetail in FIGS. 13 and 14. Assuming a direction of rotation of thebottom plate as shown by the arrow, the blade structures 150 arepositioned as shown in dotted outline 150' by each aperture. Thedimensions of the apertures for a 1.5 meter rotor are in a preferredembodiment 220 mm wide by 417 mm long. Although shown equispaced, theposition of the apertures may have to be slightly adjusted to ensurethat the corner fixing holes 220 to 226 do not interfere with the seedejection or vacuum extraction apparatus 300 shown dotted in FIG. 12.

Obviously for a plurality of aperture/blade arrangements a manifoldvacuum arrangement 302 will be required to feed to a lint collectionapparatus 304 and vacuum pump 306. These are shown dotted and themanifold 302 is illustrated for only two apertures but could readily bemodified to exhaust all eight apertures or a plurality of vacuumapparatuses could be used.

In FIG. 12 the air pipe 172 is shown associated with aperture 204 whichprovides the air to jet 174 (see FIG. 14) to blow the seeds into thereceptacles.

This air pipe 172 may in a preferred embodiment be fed from a manifold171 which also provides air for pipe 166. The manifold may be connectedto a ring manifold structure 1700 and fed by compressed air throughinlet pipe 1701 which is preferably fed out near a fixing hole corner224 of the upper plate.

With reference now to FIGS. 13 and 14, each upper blade structure 150comprise support block 152 attached to support plate 2, a blade supportblock 154 attached to block 152 and an upper blade 156. Upper blade 156is adjustable using bolts 157, 158 (only one shown in FIG. 12).

Lint cut from the cotton is output via outlet 160 and is vacuum suckedout by vacuum means (not shown).

The inlet harvested seed cotton, including the seed and lint andpossibly other impurities such as parts of leaves, is dropped on toplate 3 as indicated by arrows 162. Plate 3 rotates in the directionindicated by arrow 164. Leather or cotton composite pads 144 etc "pickup" the harvested seed cotton and carry or transport it towards theblade 156. The lint part of the seed cotton is then drawn/combed underthe fixed blade and the cutting action of the fixed blade and therotating blade which are affixed to the rotor alongside the leather padssever the lint from the seed. Cut lint passes between blade 156 andplate 3 and is vacuumed out at 160 to vacuum apparatus 300-306. Toassist in the cotton seed being forced against blade 156 an air jet orjets is provided by a pipe 166 which has small holes 168 (FIG. 13) todirect the jet as indicated by arrow 169. Air pipe 166 may be attachedto a guide plate 170 which guides the cotton seed.

The seed 120, once stripped of the cotton lint are ejected by means of afurther air flow 174 provided by a pipe 172. This projects the seed intobags 122-124 etc.

In an alternative arrangement for the lower plate 3 shown in FIG. 15,the leather or cotton composite pads 144 etc may be arranged to bespring loaded so that as the pad wears, the wear will be taken up by theaction of springs 180. To mount the leather pad, a steel plate 182 maybe used which plate may be elongated at 184 to catch under an overhang190 in each blade 128. The hinge at the other end may be provided by anysimple means such as a further extension 186 to plate 182 fixing underthe adjacent blade 126 in a recess 188.

As the leather pad wears, so the spring 180 will push the leatherupwards, thereby ensuring good frictional contact with the cotton seed.In this embodiment the lower blades 126 etc are freed to the plate 3 bysuitable screws 192. The gap between upper and lower knife edges is in apreferred embodiment between 2 to 6 thousandths of an inch.

In a further embodiment for certain types of harvested seed cotton itmay not be necessary to have any blades on the rotating plate. The uppersurface of the plate will be leather on a cotton composite which will byits rotary action throw the harvested seed cotton against the upperfixed blades thereby stripping the lint from the seed. The lint willpass under the fixed blade to be vacuum extracted as described above.

Each fixed blade has a feed chute (116, 118 etc) associated with it. Ifthe diameter of the rotor is increased for example to 2 meters diameterthen the number of blades and therefore feed chutes can be increased tofor example twelve or more.

I claim:
 1. A cotton ginning apparatus including an upper fixed plateand a lower rotating plate in substantially horizontal parallelsuperimposed relationship and defining a gap therebetween, the upperfixed plate having means to introduce harvested seed cotton includinglint and seed fed to the upper surface thereof to the gap between theplates, the upper plate having a number of zones each being providedwith a cutting edge forming a knife on the lower surface thereof, thearrangement being such that when cotton is introduced into said gapduring relative rotation of the plates and moved past the said cuttingedge, lint is progressively severed from the seed, the severed lintbeing extracted and the seed being collectible in a separate receptacle.2. A cotton ginning apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the lowerrotating plate comprises a series of zones, each zone including acutting blade for cooperation with the knives on the upper plate.
 3. Acotton ginning apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which the lower platecomprisesa plurality of blades each co-operating with said upper knifeedges to form a plurality of scissor arrangements, the upper and lowerknife edges being separated by a defined gap; a lower opening in thelower rotating plate for removal of seeds, from where the seed iscollected into a separate receptacle.
 4. A cotton ginning apparatus asclaimed in claim 3 in which the defined gap is between 2 to 6thousandths of an inch.
 5. A cotton ginning apparatus as claimed inclaim 3 in which the plurality of blades in the lower plate areseparated by a plurality of cotton composite pads fixed between eachblade, each cotton composite pad serving to drive the lint part of theharvested seed cotton on to each upper knife blade to be separated fromthe seed.
 6. A cotton ginning apparatus as claimed in claim 1 furthercomprising guide plate means proximate to each upper plate knife edgefor guiding the harvested cotton to an area of the upper fixed plateoutside of the axis of the upper fixed plate.
 7. A cotton gin apparatusas claimed in claim 1 further comprising vacuum suction means situatedat the rearward edge of said upper blade means for extracting the lintcut by said upper blade means.
 8. A cotton ginning apparatuscomprisingan upper fixed plate and a lower rotating plate insubstantially horizontal parallel superimposed relationship and defininga gap therebetween, the upper fixed plate having means to introduceharvested seed cotton including lint and seed fed to the upper surfacethereof to the gap between the plates, the upper plate having a numberof zones each being provided with a cutting edge forming a knife on thelower surface thereof, the arrangement being such that when cotton isintroduced into said gap during relative rotation of the plates andmoved past the said cutting edge, lint is progressively severed from theseed, the severed lint being extracted and the seed being collectible ina separate receptacle; guide plate means proximate to each upper plateknife edge for guiding the harvested cotton; compressed air jet meansattached to said guide plate, said jet means being directed towards theleading edge of the upper knife blade.
 9. A cotton ginning apparatuscomprisingan upper fixed plate and a lower rotating plate insubstantially horizontal parallel superimposed relationship and defininga gap therebetween, the upper fixed plate having means to introduceharvested seed cotton including lint and seed fed to the upper surfacethereof to the gap between the plates, the upper plate having a numberof zones each being provided with a cutting edge forming a knife on thelower surface thereof, the arrangement being such that when cotton isintroduced into said gap during relative rotation of the plates andmoved past the said cutting edge, lint is progressively severed from theseed, the severed lint being extracted and the seed being collectible ina separate receptacle; wherein the lower rotating plate comprises aseries of zones, each zone including a cutting blade for cooperationwith the knives on the upper plate; wherein the lower plate comprises aplurality of blades each co-operating with said upper knife edges toform a plurality of scissor arrangements, the upper and lower knifeedges being separated by a defined gap; wherein the plurality of bladesin the lower plate are separated by a plurality of leather pads fixedbetween each blade, each leather pad serving to drive the lint part ofthe harvested seed cotton on to each upper knife blade to be separatedfrom the seed.
 10. A method of ginning harvested cotton seed comprisingthe steps of:a) introducing harvested seed cotton including lint andseed on to the upper surface of a lower rotating plate; b) rotating saidplate to thereby carry said harvested seed cotton towards the leadingedge of a knife positioned at a defined distance above said lowerrotating plate such that the cotton seed is drawn/combed under the knifeedge; c) extracting lint separated from said harvested seed cotton froma rearward facing edge of said knife; and d) collecting said seed fromthe leading edge of the knife.
 11. A method of ginning harvested seedcotton as claimed 10, comprising the step of:introducing harvested seedcotton at a plurality of locations on to the rotating plate forcooperation with a plurality of knife edges.
 12. A method of ginningharvested seed cotton as claimed in claim 10 further comprising the stepof extracting the lint by a vacuum process via a manifold system from arearward facing edge of said knife.
 13. A cotton ginning apparatuscomprisingan upper fixed plate; a lower rotating plate, wherein theupper plate is disposed in a substantially horizontal parallelsuperimposed relationship relative to the lower plate and wherein theupper fixed plate and the lower rotating plate define a gap therebetween; passing means disposed at the upper fixed plate for passingharvested seed cotton including lint and seed fed to an upper surface ofthe upper fixed plate to the gap between the upper fixed plate and thelower rotating plate; a plurality of cutting edges forming knifes on thelower surface of the upper fixed plate, wherein each cutting edge isassociated with a respective zone of the upper fixed plate, wherein whencotton is introduced into said gap during relative rotation of the lowerrotating plate and when cotton is moved past one of said cutting edges,lint is progressively severed from the seed; an upper opening in theupper fixed plate for removal of lint, from where the severed lint isextracted; a lower opening in the lower rotating plate for removal ofseeds, from where the seed is collected into a separate receptacle. 14.A cotton ginning apparatus having means to introduce harvested seedcotton, including lint and seed, to a surface having a zone providedwith a cutting edge forming a knife, a gap being provided between thesurface and the knife, the arrangement being such that when cotton isintroduced into said gap during relative rotation of the surface andmoved past the said cutting edge, lint is progressively severed from theseed, the severed lint being extracted and the seed being collected,characterized in that;the apparatus includes an upper fixed plate (2)and a lower rotating plate (3) in substantial horizontal parallelsuperimposed relationship defining the said gap therebetween, means (21)being provided to feed the harvested seed cotton (S) including the lintand seed to the upper surface of the fixed plate (2) and to the gapprovided between the plates (2, 3), the upper plate (2) having a numberof zones (24) each being provided on the lower surface thereof with acutting edge (27) forming the knife.
 15. A cotton ginning apparatus asclaimed in claim 14, characterized in that the lower rotating plate (3)comprises a series of zones (31), each zone including a cutting blade(32) for co-operation with the knives (27) on the upper plate (2);guideplate means (26, 170) are proximate to each upper plate knife edge (27)for guiding the harvested cotton (S); and compressed air jet means (172)are attached to said guide plate (170), said jet means being directedtowards the leading edge (29, 156) of the upper knife block (24, 160).16. A cotton ginning apparatus as claimed in claim 14, characterized inthat, vacuum suction means (35, 300-306) are situated at the rearwardedge of said upper blade means (24, 150) for extracting the lint cut bysaid upper blade means;wherein the lower plate (3) comprises a pluralityof blades (32, 126-140) each cooperating with said upper knife edges(27) to form a plurality of scissors arrangements, the upper and towerknife edges being separated by a defined gap; and wherein the definedgap is 0.05 to 0.15 mm.
 17. A cotton ginning apparatus as claimed inclaim 14, characterized in that, the plurality of blades (32, 126-140)in the lower plate (3) are separated by a plurality of leather or cottoncomposite pads (44) fixed between each blade, each leather or cottoncomposite pad serving to drive the lint part of the harvested seedcotton on to each upper knife blade to be separated from the seed.
 18. Amethod of processing harvested cotton in order to separate the seed fromthe lint, which method comprises:a) introducing harvested cottonincluding lint and seed on to a surface; b) moving the surface tothereby carry said harvested seed cotton towards the leading edge of aknife positioned at a defined distance above said surface, such that theseed cotton is drawn/combed under the knife edge; c) extracting lintseparated from said harvested seed cotton from a rearward facing edge ofsaid knife; d) collecting said seed from the leading edge of the knife;characterized in that: e) the harvested seed cotton including the lintand seed is fed to the upper surface of a rotating plate forming therotating surface, the knife being positioned above said rotating plate.19. A method of processing harvested cotton as claimed in claim 18,characterizedby the further step of introducing harvested cotton at aplurality of locations on to the rotating plate for cooperation with aplurality of knife edges; and by the further step of extracting the lintby a vacuum process via a manifold system.